You don’t need to be a writer to be an author. If you have a skill, an interest or a hobby, then you can help others to learn, achieve or grow by selling a book on whatever subject you like.
You can outsource the writing of the book to a professional writer or you can have a go at it yourself. You’ll find that it’s easier than you think when it comes to putting pen to paper (finger to keyboard), as you just need to lay out all of your ideas.
Structuring the e-book helps with the whole process. If you love cooking, then you could write a short cook book of your favorite recipes, even those passed down from your parents or grandparents. Most any interesting topic will do. Once you have a topic in mind and you have enough content to fill a 20+ page e-book then it’s time to start.
Writing
As mentioned, you can hire a ghost writer and give them the bones of your idea, but if you have a personal attachment to the subject then you might want to write it yourself. Look at other e-books and see how they are laid out. Follow the format and start to create a mind-map of ideas. If you’re not the greatest of writers then hire an editor afterwards to tidy it up.
Editing
Let’s assume you’ve got all of the content written and it’s a bit bland-looking. You’ve spilled your thoughts onto virtual paper and now it’s time for graphics. You can add images to your PDF e-book or you can hire someone to do it. Outsourcing the work you can’t do is the best way to get the best results. Find an experienced e-book designer or find templates online and use your imagination to make the e-book look nicer.
Selling
There are billions of e-books out there right now so you have to market it well to sell it. There are affiliate marketers that will sell your book for you for a cut of the price. The more commission you offer, the more likely they are to sell it. There are millions of affiliate marketers looking for a great product to push, so more people selling your e-book, even if you only make 20% of the sale price, means that you will make a great profit and there’s no need for advertising as the marketers do all of the work.
Marketing
If you know how to market your e-book, for example, if you’re good with websites or pay-per-click advertising then you can push the e-book yourself and keep all of the profits. However, there are advertising costs to absorb so weigh up your options first. If you don’t have the time free or you want to start on e-book number two, then use affiliate marketers. You can join Clickbank which has many marketers waiting to push products for a cut of the profits.
Once you get your first sale, you’ll be over the moon and want to continue the trend of making money online.
About the author: Jamie Wright has been writing e-books for two years and has over 50 titles to his name. He also regularly takes part in paid surveys with the companies listed on OnlineSurveys.co.uk, as it’s quite easy to make money that way as well.
Credits: Image courtesy of Dean Sas.